The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word LASER BEAM
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
L
A
S
E
R
B
E
A
M
More clues leading to the result LASER BEAM
- Large sea bream tormented ray
- Awful mark erasable — with this?
- High-energy light meal prepared to entertain a European
- Ray — powerful — toyed with male bears
- Powerful ray left sea bream floundering
- Official goes up with son in support of Ray
- Seared lamb chops daughter made for Ray?
- Odd male entertaining a European that is very bright
- Sculpture of mere balsa, light
- While base keeps sides apart below a minute cutting light shaft?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "ray" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case ray = laser beam.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.